CELESTE WALTERS is the author of playscripts for children and adults, novels and picture story books for young readers, texts on developmental drama and the writing of eulogies, and three books of whimsical verse for all ages. She has also written five highly acclaimed novels for young adults. Celeste has been a teacher, an art gallery director, a children's theatre producer and a university lecturer. Currently she divides her time between Melbourne and country New South Wales where she writes, cares for newborns and entertains groups at the University of the Third Age. ANNE SPUDVILAS is a multi-award-winning illustrator of children's books and an established portrait painter who also works as a courtroom artist for the Melbourne media. Her first picture book The Race was awarded the Crichton Award for Illustration and Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Honour Book. In 2000 she won CBCA Picture Book of the Year for Jenny Angel and her latest picture book The Peasant Prince has received the NSW and Queensland Premiers' Literary Awards, the Australian Book Industry Award and CBCA Honour Book. Anne lives and works in Melbourne.
Writing in an understated manner, Walters lets readers draw their own inferences about the girl's challenges as well as her name, which is revealed in the end. Occasional ink drawings with gray washes will help readers visualize the period setting. --Booklist